AT&T needs three weeks to fix slow iPhone uploads

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In case you didn’t know, a temporary glitch on the AT&T network is throttling iPhone 4 uploads to 384Kbps, and in some cases to a mere 100Kbps, instead of a theoretical maximum of 5.7Mbps. The carrier assured it would fix the glitch blamed on faulty software on the network end.

Although the issue pertains to all smartphones, only owners of iPhone 4 and laptop modems are feeling the pain because Apple’s handset is currently the only smartphone on AT&T’s network capable of utilizing High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technology. Mark Siegel, a spokesman with AT&T, confirmed to Reuters that the fix is coming:

This patch will be deployed on a phased basis over the next two to three weeks.

Fewer than two percent of AT&T’s customers are affected, translating to about 1.8 million people. The problem is apparently limited to iPhone 4 owners living in areas where AT&T installed Alcatel Lucent’s hardware. 3G dowlink wasn’t affected by the glitch, the carrier said.

Christian’s Opinion

This is exactly the stuff Steve Jobs warned us about at the iPhone 4 introduction. Pitching the phone’s A4 chip, Jobs noted the handset supports quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA for 7.2Mbps download and 5.8Mbps upload link, the latter being a major improvement over the iPhone 3GS. Explaining those speeds, Jobs made a joking reference to AT&T falling behind those advances:

That’s theoretical because carriers don’t support that yet, but as they do we’ll welcome it.

While the iPhone 4 upload speed glitch on the network end has nothing to do with the handset’s theoretical upload and download speeds, it highlights once more that AT&T is holding Apple back, just like they did when they delayed MMS and iPhone tethering, not to mention spotty coverage in some areas, dropped calls, the iPhone 4 pre-ordering meltdown, and other issues.